


It's Always Been You

by ImmortalHKitty



Category: The Creatures | Cow Chop RPF, fake chop - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Soulmate AU, i really tried to make this sad, i'm finally posting this thing, there's a lot of mention of blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 08:29:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12229245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImmortalHKitty/pseuds/ImmortalHKitty
Summary: Normal people probably think you're crazy if you belong in a gang when you live in a world where if you die, your soulmate dies too. For James, he never thought of this as a problem. He's never met his soulmate, so why should he care if he dies? What happens if his soulmate dies before him, though?





	It's Always Been You

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to credit botanistlester on tumblr (phansdick on here) for the idea of the au where if your soulmate dies, you die too. If you are interested in the pairing of Dan Howell and Phil Lester, please check out her stories!

It’s not a good idea to be in a criminal gang when you live in a world where if you die, your soulmate, whoever he or she is, dies too. It doesn’t matter if you actually have met the person or not, the universe knows and they die alongside with you. The good part about this whole situation is that if you happen to die a tragic death, your soulmate will die by their heart slowly beating to a stop. That’s why James has never gotten a girlfriend since he joined the Hub, then later created Fake Chop, just incase she might be the one. It’s too risky with this type of work. The only relationships he has are one night stands. No connections at all. No matter what, though, if he dies during a mission, someone else will too.

They say you know if someone is your soulmate if you run into them, even though you only really know if you’re together and one of you dies. James thanks the heavens that, so far, he has never felt a sort of ‘connection’ with any girl he’s met that would indicate her being his soulmate. He figures not knowing his soulmate personally will be less painful if he or she dies unexpectedly, especially when James risks his life almost every day.  
__________________________________________________________________________

“Can you fucking not?” James shouts, taking another shot at a guard, watching the man go down. He ducks down when he hears more shots ring out before turning and taking out another guard. A quick glance over his shoulder tells him that Aleks is occupied with his own share of security. He trusts that Aleks can hold up and protect himself like always.

Today’s mission was to break into a high security building and steal some documents that includes information about a well feared gang in England. Word has it that the crew might stir up some trouble with other gangs from across the pond. Due to how huge the building is, James, Aleks, Brett, Trevor, Joe, and Asher had split into groups. James and Aleks were left with retrieving the documents while the other four are suppose to sweep the building and take out more security. Anna and Jakob are their get away, while Lindsey is back at the warehouse tracking them. 

“Something tells me that we underestimated the amount of guards here!” Aleks shouts over the chaos.

“Yeah, just a little bit!” A new wave of guards rush into the room. If James wasn’t so occupied with trying to protect himself, he would call the others for backup. Sadly, Lindsey is only tracking them, so she has no idea that the two of them are struggling.

“Ah!” James hears the noise from behind him, it rising over the gunshots and distinctly different from the sounds the guards make when he shoots them. This is a sound he’s heard before. He incapacitates the one guy in front front of him before whipping around to see the source of the noise. A guard is staring down at something, dropping when James puts a bullet through his head.

“Aleks!” James screams once he realizes that the guard was staring at Aleks’ crumpled figure on the floor. He rushes over, dropping to his knees where his best friend is bleeding out from a gunshot wound to the chest. From the looks of it, it seems extremely close to his heart.

“You...okay?” Aleks wheezes out, blood already saturating his shirt. From the way he’s sounding, the bullet might have pierced his lung. He must be in an immense amount of pain as well.

“I’m fine, you fucker, but you’re not.” James tries to remain calm, but he can’t help his voice from shaking at the sentence. He tries to place his hands over the wound, but there’s so much blood that’s still flowing, and his hands are shaking, and now there’s tears welling in his eyes, and...and…

“Brett! Joe! Lindsey! Anyone?” James yells into his com, but he receives no response. The stupid thing just has to malfunction at this moment. James just can’t leave Aleks like this, wheezing on the floor with blood still pooling out, to find the others. So, James just pulls Aleks into his lap, using his left arm to support him and his right to try and staunch the flow again.

“Too late,” whispers Aleks, his chest heaving to get air into his lungs. His voice is exactly that, a whisper. He’s having difficulty trying to speak since he’s weakening with blood loss and the fact that he does probably have a punctured lung. Still, Aleks nestles his head into James’ neck for comfort as his body courses with pain. James can feel his slightly clammy skin against his.

“Don’t say that!” James barks, subconsciously pressing down even harder which just makes Aleks cry out more in agony. “The others are gonna be here in a second and then we’ll get you to Anna. You’re gonna live, god damnit!” 

“Not this time.” Another whisper that makes James’ heartbreak. There is no way that the infamous Aleksandr Marchant, who has been to hell, and back can think that this time he won’t make it out. Aleks weakly reaches up and places his hand over the one that’s still pressing against his chest, locking his fingers with James’ hand. James blindly ignores the fact that Aleks’ breathing is gradually getting slower and shallower as his chest begins to stop rapidly rising and falling.

“No! I swear to god if you die I… I wouldn’t know what to do…,” James trails off. He intended to have a snarky comment, but for once in his lifetime, he doesn’t have one. He’s never thought of what he would do if Aleks died. Today better not be that fucking day because Aleks will be fine once Anna treats him. She is like a magical healer. One time James got stabbed and she put this salve on his side and-

“I’m sorry.” This time Aleks’ voice sounds like a faint breeze, barely there, but still noticeable. James feels something wet soak into his shirt, creating a patch on his shoulder. He realizes that Aleks is crying. It has to be out of pain. Why would he be crying out of sadness? He’s gonna live.

“Don’t you fucking dare, Aleksandr!” Now James’ voice is getting choked up. He cradles Aleks closer to his chest, folding his fingers around the hand that’s over his. He squeezes it, feeling the faintest amount of pressure against his hand in return. In the eerie quietness, he hears a shuddering exhale, then nothing. Aleks’ grasp gives up and his arm dangles limply from where James is keeping their fingers locked together.

An overwhelming amount of grief washes over James like the coldest of waves as soon as Aleks lets out his last breath. He hadn’t even processed what just happened before he was consumed by sadness. His body shudders with the heavy sobs he lets out. He can’t control his tears. It’s too much. He can barely breathe. It feels like a piece of him slipped away. Wait...

The people who have watched others die say you are given a minute or so to grieve for your soulmate. You are given time to acknowledge that they are dead and that you will soon join them since there is no point in living without your soulmate. Of course watching someone experience the loss is one of the worst things you can witness. They say that you just cry. Cry until you come to acceptance in your last moments of life. Then, you’re calm and just peacefully pass away, ready to be embraced by your soulmate in the afterlife.

“It’s you,” whispers James suddenly. “It’s always been you.” He always felt something towards Aleks, but he only thought of it as a strong friendship since they’ve been through so much together ever since Aleks’ scrawny ass joined the Hub in 2013. Plus, he always thought his soulmate would be a woman. He’s always been attracted to girls. Turns out that fact doesn’t matter anymore. 

“No wonder I still kept you around even when you were being the biggest asshole alive. It’s always been you. You’re my soulmate,” James says through his tears. He lays Aleks’ body down as gently as possible, straightening him out as his head rolls to the side. Leaning down, James carefully turns his face and places a feather light kiss to his lips. The first and only kiss they will ever share.

“You know, we always worked so well together. I guess this really does explain a lot.” James lays down next to his soulmate’s body. Even though he’s huffing for more air due to his excessive sobbing, he can feel his heart beginning to slow. It’s quite contradictory, but it doesn’t matter when you’re going to die no matter what. 

Taking a hold of Aleks limp hand, James runs his thumb across the back of his hand after bringing it to his lips and kissing it. Aleks’ beaded bracelet slides down his arm at the action. Bring their arms back down, James takes one last glance at Aleks’ peaceful face then allows his eyes to shut. Each second his heart beats slower and slower. Those people are right. Despite the fact that James is going to die, he feels calm. Though he wasn’t with Aleks in a romantic way, they have done some crazy shit and have left their mark over the past few years. That’s all that matters to James. With his last breath he murmurs,

“I couldn’t say this until it was too late, but I love you, Aleksandr.”  
____________________________________________________________________________

“James? Aleks? Do you hear me?” Brett tries again to get in touch with the two. Him and Trevor had one too many guards to take out over the expanse of the huge chuck of building they were sweeping. Now on their way to the main room, he has yet to receive word from the duo. “Lindsey, are they still in the main room?

“Yeah,” she replies then continues, “but they haven’t moved at all, which is weird. I'll try and hack into the camera.”

“Oh, shit, I guess we better hurry up then.” Brett practically runs to where the main room is located, Trevor right behind him and keeping look out. When they approach the room, Brett enters it slowly after clearing it. He tells Trevor to stand by just in case.

“Fuck!” Brett shouts when he discovers the two. The room is quite big, so it takes him a bit to notice Aleks and James amongst the bodies of the guys they killed.

“What?” Trevor questions. He starts to come further into the room, but Brett yells at him.

“Stay there! Just… don’t come in. You don’t want to see this.” For once, Brett is choked up. He doesn’t know what to do. Here Aleks and James are. They’re side by side, hands still tangled together. Aleks has a noticeable gun shot wound to the chest. There is blood all over his clothes and along with the floor. Brett can’t see any noticeable wounds on James, so he figures that he held Aleks as he was bleeding out due to the blood smears on his shirt. Aleks died. James is dead too. He was his soulmate. Brett has to admit that he always knew there was something special between them. Now he knows what that exact ‘something’ was.

“Shit,” says a voice behind him. Brett turns to see Asher and Joe beside him now. He’s so shocked that he didn’t even hear them approach. They’re staring at the bodies. Brett can already see the tears in their eyes. 

“I always knew they were soulmates,” comments Joe, letting out a watery laugh. “At least they were together. They went out with a bang.”

“You’re right,” Brett says, still overwhelmed by what happened. Sadly, they still have a mission to complete.  “Come on, we need to go. I’ll grab James. Asher, you take Aleks. Joe, get the documents.”  
____________________________________________________________________________

The rest of them end up completing the mission. They hand over the documents to the guy who ordered their retrieval. They don’t mention the casualties that occurred. Later that night, they all drive out to the desert in order to bury Aleks and James. It takes a lot of manpower, but they manage to bury them side by side. The rest of the crew wishes they could hold a proper funeral, but highly wanted criminals don’t deserve such a luxury. Instead, they hold a moment of silence that gets broken when Trevor sobs out, “I’ll miss you fucking cunts so much”.

Coming back to the warehouse, they party. They party despite the fact that they are all overcome with grief. They know what Aleks and James would want if they died. Aleks would want everyone to smoke a blunt in his honor or get so wasted on vodka they would have borderline alcohol poisoning. As for James, he would just want everyone to continue on, just as long as his mother and dearest Ein are taken care of. No matter how hard it will be, the others will continue on. That’s what Fake Chop does. They continue on no matter how rough it gets, even though the founding members aren’t here now to watch the crew blossom and strengthen from their ashes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hoped this story tugged on your heartstrings a bit.  
> You can find me on tumblr at youjustgotcowchopped :)


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